In the 1948 Independence War, the legionnaires trounced the Israelis at the Latrun Fort five times, put Jerusalem under siege, and massacred soldiers and civilians alike at Kfar Etzion in what is today the West Bank.

And indeed the first two days of the Six Day War saw bitter, brutal fighting in the then-divided city of Jerusalem between Israeli troops and the Jordanian Armed Forces — by 1967, it had dropped the name “Arab Legion” — including one of the fiercest battles of the entire war: the Battle of Ammunition Hill.

To coincide with this year’s Jerusalem Day celebrations on Wednesday, the Defense Ministry released dozens of photographs and transcripts, some of which have never been seen by the public before, documenting the vicious fighting for Jerusalem and its Old City, and the ecstasy that followed it.

On the second day of the war, June 6, 1967, colonel Mordechai Gur was charged with taking Ammunition Hill, north of Jerusalem’s Old City. The fighting was fierce, with both sides often resorting to bayonets and knives due to the cramped trenches.

In the end, the Israeli troops took the hill but lost 36 soldiers, including most of the officers, earning the battle the nickname the “privates’ battle.” Some 71 Jordanian soldiers were also killed in the fighting. (Shoddy intelligence led Gur to believe that only a few dozen Jordanians would be defending the site, not the over 100 soldiers who were actually entrenched in the hill.)

But by the evening of June 6, the Israeli forces had beaten back the “unbeatable” Jordanian army, taking over several neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, as well as much of the surrounding region, including the Latrun Fort in the hills west of the city.

However, the IDF had steered clear of Jerusalem’s Old City. That part of Jerusalem, which contained the holy sites of Judaism, Islam and Christianity, was considered a sensitive place, an area that could not be bombarded with artillery fire or barreled through with tanks.

Begin, from the right-wing Herut party, also considered what type of terminology should be used, foreseeing a battle that continues to this day. “We keep using the word ‘conquer.’ That is militarily correct, but I would say that the Old City is liberated. If this raises concerns, it can be said that the Old City of Jerusalem, the City of David, is in the hands of the IDF,” he told his fellow ministers.

Ironically, one of the staunchest opponents to capturing the Old City was the man who later gave the order — all on his own and without cabinet consultation — to do just that: then-defense minister Moshe Dayan.

Dayan had no doubt that the IDF was capable of taking the Old City, but feared that troops who were needed in the Sinai would be bogged down in Jerusalem. He was also worried that “there will be international pressure on us to leave the Old City.

In the end, the security cabinet was convinced. In his summation of the meeting, then-prime minister Levi Eshkol said: “We will not go into the Old City tonight and will settle for cutting off the city from all other sides. If political developments require it, the defense minister is entitled to order the IDF to enter the Old City.”

Tipped off to a potential UN-declared ceasefire, the defense minister ordered Gur’s Paratroopers Brigade to take the Old City, lest Israel miss its chance to gain control of the Temple Mount and Western Wall.

After the short battle for the Old City, which was conducted without tanks, artillery or aircraft for fear of damaging the holy sites, Gur declared his famous words: “The Temple Mount is in our hands.”

“When the celebration started with all the important people and the shofars, the guys didn’t feel the war. To me, it was too early. There wasn’t tension,” said Maj. Yossi Fredkin, commander of the 28th Battalion.

As I read this emotional article, I can not help remembering another from a few days ago, where they ask Prime Minister Netanyahu to go down in history as the one who left for Jerusalem, recognizing two states (my words).